Bodies dug from graves to fuel trade in Nazi souvenirs

Grave robbers are digging up bodies of German soldiers killed in the Second
World War to recover Nazi memorabilia, feeding a multi-million pound market,
it emerged on Monday.

Much of the trade is centred on Russia, where hundreds of thousands of Nazi soldiers died during the 1942 retreat from the Red ArmyPhoto: Getty Images

11:09AM BST 20 Aug 2012

Servicemen's groups have condemned the trade in Nazi souvenirs, which has seen hundreds of artifacts - including dog tags and tank parts - stripped from graves in Demyansk, near Novgorod in Russia, and Kurland in Latvia.

The items end up for sale on websites or at specialist fairs while the bodies are dumped in mass graves.

Paul Reed, a military archaeologist, told The Times: “It's wholesale looting of battle sites, and the bones are just tipped into holes at the end of the day.

“Second World War archaeology is in its infancy at the moment, and these people are destroying our future, as well as desecrating the graves of fallen soldiers. None of them deserved to have their bones dug up.”

Items have reportedly been offered at War and Peace, the biggest military fair in Europe, which takes place at Hop Farm, in Kent.